We’re gonna call it for Richard Fitzgerald, with a total of 56% of the votes to Flaherty’s 44%. 1290-1319 of the precincts counted.
We’re going to call it for Chelsa Wagner for Allegheny County Controller with a total of 49.14% of the vote with 1297 of 1319 precincts counted.
We’re also gonna call it for Raja in the GOP race for Allegheny County Exec. Up 71.5 – 26.7% with 2/3rds of precincts in.
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review has reported that Mt. Lebanon businessman D. Raja has secured the Republican nomination for Alleghany County chief executive having led his opponent Chuck McCullough 72% to 27% with 46% of the precincts reporting.
Chelsa Wagner is currently leading with 18, 887 votes, followed by Valerie McDonald Roberts with 10,625 votes. Matta is bringing up the rear with 6,055 votes. Percentage wise, thats Wagner with 52.82%, Roberts with 29.73%, and Matta with 16.94%. So far 460 of 1319 precincts have been counted.
WPXI news channel reports Council District 9, Democrat, Ricky Burgess is currrently leading with 758 votes for Lucille Pater-Holliday’s 525 and Phyllis Copeland Mitchell’s 321. Precincts reported 23 of 54.
No results for the other districts as of yet.
WPXI news channel reports Rich Fitzgerald has 12,434 votes to Mark Patrick Flaherty’s 8,697. They’re currenly 59% to 41%. The precincts reported thus far are 263 of 1319.
An update on that impromptu Chuck McCullough for DA bid we mentioned earlier:
He needs 500 legit signatures to get on the ballot. We’ll know tonight (here on the county’s site) how many write-ins there are for the position. But we won’t know the name(s) for maybe a week or so. Even in the digital age the elections department has to do some manual digging and calculating on this one — recall that last year Democrat Dan DeMarco had to mount a write-in effort to face state Sen. Jane Orie, at which point she staged her own Dem write-in bid to thwart him. It took nine days to resolve that DeMarco got more signatures. (And then Orie beat him in the general.)
Citing frustration with the planning and zoning process in Upper St. Clair, resident and protest organizer Dorothy Davis launched an impromptu write-in campaign yesterday for an at-large township commissioner’s seat.
Ms. Davis, a Democrat, needs only 10 write-in votes to appear on the November ballot. There is one at-large seat available this year. It is currently occupied by Republican Glenn Dandoy, who is running for his second, four-year term.
The 55-year-old lawyer and resident of the township’s Fieldgate development is perhaps best known locally as one of the voices of USC First, a citizen’s group that has raised questions and concerns about plans for a big-box retail and residential development at the site of the former Consol Energy corporate headquarters at the corner of Route 19 and Fort Couch Road.
6:45, Controller, Keegan Gibson
The Matta camp (naturally) is seeing a different picture about turnout in the Mon Valley, and aims to do well in the City.
This is CM Johnna Pro, whose resume demonstrates that her name is apt.
“We’re feeling good. The whole team has been at the polls today and support for George is very solid. His name recognition is high; he’s run and won twice county wide; and voters know and trust him”
“Turnout throughout the county has been extremely low and we’ve been everywhere. I’ll be surprised if it breaks 25 percent except in scattered districts where there are hot municipal races.
“We want to come out of the Mon Valley strong, hold our own in the city of Pittsburgh, and do well in the county.”
5:30pm, Controller, Keegan Gibson
Wagner’s camp is feeling good. They point to better-than-average Democratic turnout in the South Hills, and “anemic” numbers so far in George Matta’s base in the Mon Valley.
“With three hours to go, our ground game is ready for the final surge of voters. We have significant organizational advantages in the field across the county and especially throughout the city,” says Campaign Manager JJ Abbott. “Our volunteers, Democratic Committee members, and labor have been persuading undecideds at polling places, which is especially important in this type of election. We’re hopeful that all the hard work we’ve put into organizing at the grassroots level will compliment our aggressive pre-election media plan.”
3:00pm, GOP Exec Race, Keegan Gibson
The Raja camp is feeling good. Campaign Manager James Genovese says turnout seems to be light, which is not atypical in this type of election. “However we are seeing good turnout in our Mt Lebanon districts (Raja’s home municipality).”
However, PoliticsPA is also hearing of some instances of racism at the polls. GOP pollworkers supporting Raja report some voters asking “Why are you guys supporting a Muslim?” and other such comments.
It’s something that’s occurred in a handful of precincts across Allegheny County, indicating it may be a rumor that was deliberately spread (akin to the Obama Muslim rumors in 2008).
2:30pm, Dem Exec Race, Meghan Schiller
Democratic Allegheny County Exec candidate Fitzgerald campaign has made 10,000 calls and knocked on 5,000 doors already this morning. The rain will hopefully not deter voters away from the polls.
Keeping their feet to the road the campaign says in response to the overwhelming number of his opponent, Flaherty’s signs in the area, “Signs don’t uproot themselves and vote- people do. We’re spending out time talking to voters to get Rich Fitzgerald’s message out about property taxes, Marcellus Shale, etc.”
2:00pm, Dem Exec Race, Meghan Schiller
A rainy day in Pittsburgh normally guarantees a poor turnout. The polls in Allegheny County appears to be slow-moving this early afternoon. Hopefully the rain will stop and more of the elderly and more reliable voters in the area will head out to the polls.
Signage in Allegheny county tends to lean towards Mark Patrick Flaherty. Although Squirrel Hill seems to be brimming with Fitzgerald pride, the rest of the county is covered in Flaherty signs.
Fitzgerald’s supporters, however, have been much more vocal in public debates and outings.
For Allegheny County polling time information click here.